Treating the people well.

Jamaicans were excited with talk of getting a public holiday, or several holidays, after the sprinting medal haul over the weekend. PM Bruce Golding ran around the subject, more like a gymnast doing a floor routine than one of our graceful runners. But, the people expect something. Now there is talk of a Jamaica Day, where every Jamaican would show the colours of the national flag (see Gleaner letter). Naturally, the upsurge of national pride has been enormous; even the national footballers, the Reggae Boyz, who had made their own history in qualifying previously for the 1998 World Cup in France, are using the weekend's wins for inspiration in their match tomorrow against Canada in Toronto.

Digicel, for whom Usain Bolt has been a major marketing tool, decided to step up to the starting line and gave every mobile phone customer a J$100 credit (either when credit is topped up for pre-paid, or a credit on the next bill for post-paid)--part of a J$200 million give-away. So, the peeps get a piece. But what about Cable and Wireless, for whom Asafa Powell was the marketing icon? Not going to give a similar credit because their man did not get a medal? No, man. Everybody was on the phone over the weekend like it was an Olympic event, so all the companies made great money. I hope C&W see that all the people get a lift from the victories.

Asafa's defeat has been the subject of much discussion, but nicely there is a big effort to support him: "Big up de big man!" He made modern sprinting come alive in Jamaica, and his unparalleled record of over 40 times under 10 seconds is really phenomenal. My little take is that he needs to rework his racing strategy: he is a great starter, not a come from behind racer or great finisher like Usain, so has no mechanism for dealing with people passing him or to clawing back. He lost the bronze medal place in about the last 10 metres of the race. Look how Kerron Stewart clawed back the field after the absymal start she had. And as I write I see how Shericka Williams dug into the last 20 metres to steal silver in the women's 400 metres final, unexpectedly, and getting a personal best of 49.96 seconds. (The American favourite, Sanya Richards, who gave away her lead and ended up third, is Jamaican by birth. Britain's Germaine Mason, who took silver in today's high jump is really Jamaica's national record holder in the high jump but "defected" recently but still trains with the Jamaican MVP camp. He did a personal best, which would have been another Jamaican national record, but he's now British. Give and take.). Go Jamaicans again, wherever you are!

Finally, much comment is going on about Usain's chest thumping and his not looking to smash the record. I wont spend much time on either. He went to win gold, not set a record--he had it already--in what was for his a sort of fun event. When he saw gold was assured he had an upsurge of elation and just let it out. He also did another personal best--all you can expect in a major event--which was a smash-mouth for the existing world record. All of that in a time when most people don't breathe. What I would give for a chance to run a race like his and pump like that ahead of the tape. He looks great for the 200 metres and I would think that if he starts to do a dance hall move before the finish that that would be arrogant, but I would love to see it.

Now the count is on to see if we can beat our previous best of 3-8-1 for gold, silver and bronze medals. I would love to see Jamaica do better than 1-2-2 in another race.